What irks me the most in life is disingenuity. Of any kind, in all sorts of people, from all walks of life. Knowing what you’re doing is a grift, a ploy to manipulate and shut down criticism, yet having the audacity to front like you’re serious.
Please stop torturing us with antisemitism as a linguistic manipulation to get away with crimes that uphold your privilege. The jig is up.
Is there anything more annoying in this world than the people who simply cannot understand something is just over? Your wife caught you cheating; stop finding excuses and trying to manipulate your way out of it. You have been found out. Just give it a rest.
The great noticing is here
How are we still entertaining this conversation in 2026? How are we still explaining ourselves to those who consciously and dishonestly use antisemitism to shut down conversation and escape accountability?
We have watched 1,063 days of livestreamed genocide unfolding on our phones; the images of children’s limbs blown off their bodies are imprinted in our minds and will stay there until the end of our time. And yet, we’re still discussing antisemitism, not the genuine one, but the one used to shut down legitimate conversation.
It’s grotesque what the Zionists are doing to this man, day in day out. They are attaching an antisemitism smear to a man who spent the last four years bravely advocating for halting the mass murder of toddlers and civilians, regardless of what that stance professionally cost him.
And that is precisely what bothers them: a man whose moral compass is tuned so correctly that nothing, absolutely nothing, no threats, no smears, no lies, can make him falter in standing up for the humane treatment of all human beings.
The merger
In this latest attempt of trying to slap an antisemitic label on Mark Ruffalo, the issue is a Paramount/Warner Brothers merger, a grotesque consolidation of power that would crush job opportunities and, as Mark pointed out, see a loss of 4500 direct filmmaking jobs and the loss of another 10k ancillary jobs.
Mark voiced a legitimate concern about an $111B merger that would put enormous power into the hands of one family—a family headed by the largest single donor to the IDF and a company whose former CEO just casually stated on camera is producing “profoundly scary technology” for Israel.
A profoundly scary technology for a state currently committing a genocide and set out to create a surveillance state for us all.
We are not angry enough, folks.
These people are taking us for a ride, and we’re still not getting off.
Mark’s Instagram story about the merger
This is what Mark Ruffalo wrote on his Instagram story about this merger. All legit concerns:
This is the company that Larry Elison is using to fund his son David’s
Warner Bros acquisition.
These “really profoundly scary technologies” will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and one day used on you. Look how she revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.
There is an old saying. “The way you do one thing is the way you do everything.
From one of the biggest tech companies in the world. Powering some of the most destructive and inhuman forces in the world. Why has Trump pushed this illegal merger through?
Larry Ellison will own most of “Para Bros”. Larry is a classic Oligarch.
They are crushing workers and consolidating the wealth of the world for their own power and concentrated dominance.
We have a chance to stop this. There are 12 state Attorneys General suing to block this merger. It will be catastrophic for our film industry.
There will be a loss of 4500 direct film making jobs and the loss of another 10k ancillary jobs. Merger like this are almost always bad for workers, consumers, and the industry they tend to dominate. It’s a classic antitrust case.
It will hike up the cost of cable and flatten out competition. This means less choice for our audiences. It also concentrates an enormous amount of creative control to companies that say and do things like this strange woman from Oracle.
Really profoundly Scary people.
Why are we always explaining ourselves? Why is Mark, anyone, all of us constantly needing to explain what we meant?
The biggest criminals on earth are known for this classic MO: audacity and an accusatory tone, deliberately misinterpreting their opponents’ words when those words are right there for all to see, forcing you to explain yourself rather than forcing them to explain their crimes.
I want to literally puke on my living room sofa if I hear one more time that “it’s not antisemitic to be critical of the Israeli government,” followed by calling every single sentence directed to that crime syndicate pretending to be a state—antisemitic.
“It’s not antisemitic to be critical of the Israeli government.”
Unless you are a student on a campus calling out the Israeli apartheid.
Or a singer calling out the IDF’s war crimes.
Or Ms. Rachel saying Palestinian kids should live too.
Or a flotilla activist carrying baby formula to Gaza.
Or a person boycotting food associated with the apartheid state.
Or someone protesting an Oracle executive threatening the world with “profoundly scary technology.”
Or an American actor opposing consolidation of power.
Or the NBC crew attacked by violent settlers in the West Bank.
A grift to end all conversation
Just take a look at this piece made by our favorite hasbarist for hire, Noa Tishby; only, I broke her down too. Not a single word she said about Mark is accurate, and every single word Mark uttered is verifiably true.
And yet, her video full of propaganda, lies, and smears about this man ended up on his Google search profile. Media consolidation? How can a nobody’s video, unrelated to this man, end up on his Google search?
Let’s finally have the honest antisemitism conversation, shall we?
There is only one correct and intellectually honest definition of what antisemitism is. It’s not thoughts or feelings or paranoia. Antisemitism is an actual, tangible action taken against an individual. Not a feeling. Or discomfort.
You will not find a more honest breakdown of antisemitism than what Norman Finkelstein, a son of Holocaust survivors, explained at the Robinson Erhardt podcast. He gave this man a schooling that only Norm can produce:
Robinson:
For the sake of comprehensiveness, there are two more arguments I'd like to touch on. I think it's pretty undeniable, at least from my own experience, that there is very rampant antisemitism in the United States, at least.
Norman:
I don't agree with that at all. There was an era in which one calculated antisemitism not by a person's thoughts, because you can't control a person's thoughts, there was an era where, when you talked about discrimination, when you talked about antisemitism, it meant—does it affect your job opportunities, does it affect your access to certain institutions of higher education, does it affect where you're going to live, does it affect negatively your interactions with the law—that's what antisemitism meant.
There were quantifiable, palpable, and lucid expressions of this phobia, whatever you want to call it, antisemitism or a hateful genocidal intent.
Can you name me a place in the United States where a Jew would have trouble purchasing a home or renting an apartment? Name me one place; I'd be curious where that person would have trouble purchasing a home or renting an apartment. Can you name me one university, one college in the whole United States where a Jew would have trouble getting in because he or she was Jewish?
Could you name me one profession? Does the medical profession discriminate against Jews? Law, there was once a problem; that's why Jewish law firms were created because they couldn't get into the WASP law firms. Does that exist anymore?
It’s just completely and totally ridiculous to talk about antisemitism in the United States. On the contrary, being Jewish gets you into professions because Jews are such a dominant force in the medical field and the law field. There is clannishness; every group has its clannishness. It's an asset, not a disability. It's an asset in our society.
In publishing, being Jewish makes a big difference. You know what they used to call the New York Review? They called it a review of each other's books because they were all Jewish. So in the face of that reality, to speak about antisemitism strikes me as ridiculous and self-indulgent on a Herculean scale.
Antisemitism is not thoughts passing through your head.
Brothers Bloom
I met Mark in 2006, during the shoot for Brothers Bloom. The club I was running at the time was one of the film’s locations, and my then-boyfriend had a tiny role in the film. I hung out with the crew for almost a month; one day the first AD (the First Assistant Director) on the film developed a little crush on me.
“I’m going to put you in the film; I need someone like you in the scene,” he declares to me one day.
“Nah, I don’t act, I pass,” I say, thinking that’s that.
A few days later an assistant calls me to confirm I’m on the call sheet for tomorrow. What? No. I said I’m not interested in being in front of the camera. “Well, you are on the call sheet, so you have to come,” she says matter-of-factly.
I roll up to the unknown, my then-boyfriend slightly annoyed, pretending to be supportive; that man never did enjoy sharing the spotlight. I report to the lady that called me, slightly puzzled why I need to be here and what for. The first AD sees me, rolls up, and says, “Do not worry, you’ll be great; you have a scene with Mark Ruffalo, the assistant will escort you to your coordinator to practice with the knives a bit, because you will have to stab Mark through his fingers several times but not actually stab him.”
I never acted in my life (except for fun, in real life), and I need to stab-not stab Mark Ruffalo on cue.
But Mark was great. He helped me tremendously and made me feel comfortable and wasn’t impatient, and I managed not to hurt him. We spoke about so many things about this world while rehearsing and shooting the scene, and I saw this streak in him—having a need to instantly correct the wrong, call it out, and expose it.
My then-ex did something silly a few days earlier, a self-serving act that was not exactly in the spirit of teamwork, and Mark called him out on it instantly. From what I gathered during that entire month of spending time with this cast and crew, Mark’s sense of right and wrong was so deeply ingrained in him. He had this strong combination of logic, justice, and empathy that made it completely unsurprising to me that he would become what we see today: a stand-up human being, a friend and colleague willing to fight for and risk his career for the benefit of people less privileged than him.
Imagine what this world would be if every single one of us, famous or not, powerful or less influential, with big or small reach in life or social media, had the courage to take on this rotten system of power that is running our lives?
A superhero, in the literal sense of the world. A real-life Avenger.
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An excellent article!
I've been schooled on how language is ever evolving. A loved one's pronouns have changed and I do my damnedest to get it right when referring to them. So, too has political language changed. The right is all wrong (IMO). The use of big words like communist and ... well, so much name-calling the words seem to have lost meaning. People only understand them as an insult, something bad (which they are) but they are using the wrong words. I don't think they understand antisemitic...they get the 'anti' and they're all for it. Cause the 'right' says so. Some straightforward folks might could think the right is right because they think in terms of right/wrong. So all these 'bad' words/attributes are flung around and nothing means anything any more. Mr. Ruffalo has cut through the cheese. Cut through the fogginess. Used clear language, relatively simple words. Clarity. He's a man to respect and admire. One to hold high as A Man of Courage. We need to keep these men safe. They are rare unicorns.